Tip of the Month for: April 2019
Save Disk Space, Backup Space and Time by Purging non-essential files
As you probably know there are many purges in Answers that allow purging and cleaning up a wide variety of files. Granted some of these are history type purges that many of us are hesitant to ever purge or even if we do, we want to hold onto the history for a really long time just in case we might need to look something back up from many years ago. The good news though is that all purges allow a "Cut-Off Date" so that we have total control over what and how much is purged, thus allowing us a way to keep more recent history but purging off older history.
But the intention of this Tip-of-the-Month is to list out what we refer to as "non-essential" files that we recommend purging on occasion or at least annually to keep them cleaned up, efficient, and taking up less disk space and backup space and time. We realize most servers have ample disk space these days, but often backup space and backup time may be more of a concern, especially depending on the type of backup device and if cloud based backups are involved.
The files listed here are ones that are not "critical" to the operation of Answers. They are not key history files such as Invoice History, P/O History, Inventory Transaction History, A/R or A/P Analysis History. These are more log type files that we really feel do not need to be maintained as long as your key history files. We feel in most cases, keeping a year's worth of these is ample, and in our opinion, rarely would be think it would make sense to keep them for many years like you want to with key history files. Of course, keeping one year's worth is just a suggestion, but again it is important to understand that in most cases these are not the history files you are constantly referring to during the course of the day
The menu path to each one of these suggestions is listed below. Of course it is still recommended that you purge these at a time when all other users are out of Answers. It is also recommended that due to the size of many of these and the intensity of purging activities, that these be run directly on the server if at all possible.
System Management-->Menu Maintenance-->Attached/Scanned Objects Purge It is suggested to run this one with the box checked to "Purge Only Saved Email Message". Running this program to purge just copies of emails sent from Answers can in itself save considerable disk space if you have Answers configured to save a copy of all emails sent. This program can also be added to Automated End-of-Month for those companies that do so.
System Management-->Menu Maintenance-->Email Log Purge This program can also be added to Automated End-of-Month for those companies that do so.
System Management-->Menu Maintenance-->Archived Messages Purge
System Management-->Menu Maintenance-->Maintenance Log Purge
System Management-->Menu Maintenance-->Tasks Reminder History Purge Companies that use this feature as designed may wish to keep more than a year of Task History as a rule depending on how often they go back and look at previous tasks or actions taken.
Inventory Management-->End of Period-->Inventory Quantity Log Purge This program can also be added to Automated End-of-Month for those companies that do so.
Order Processing-->End of Period-->Order Activity Log Purge This program can also be added to Automated End-of-Month for those companies that do so.
Order Processing-->End of Period-->Quote Activity Log Purge This program can also be added to Automated End-of-Month for those companies that do so.
Order Processing-->End of Period-->Pick Ticket Print History Purge
Purchasing Management-->End of Period-->P/O Activity Log Purge This program can also be added to Automated End-of-Month for those companies that do so.